My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 53: The Prime Minister

After Hongli asked this, the Fourth Lady beside him looked at him in surprise.

She really didn't expect Hongli to think of this.

However, the Fourth Lady did not know that Hongli was taking an open-book exam, and would notice things that Yongzheng himself did not notice, but would happen in history.

Therefore, she had no choice but to admit that the fourth prince whom she adopted by imperial decree was truly meticulous.

As far as the Fourth Lady knew, her mother-in-law really liked being praised.

Now that Hongli said that she could control the six palaces, her mother-in-law, Concubine De, would definitely be willing to admit that she could control the six palaces.

As for Concubine De, she smiled and said, "Do I need to be reminded of this?"

Then, De Fei said: "Don't worry! I'm not so senile and confused yet!"

Having said that, Concubine De asked Hongli and the Fourth Lady to kneel down and pay their respects.

After leaving the Yonghe Palace of Concubine De, the Fourth Lady touched her chest, breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Hongli with a doting look and said with a smile:
"I finally understand why the late emperor values ​​you. If it weren't for you today, His Majesty would be in real trouble."

"Enie, you're joking. If you hadn't come with your son to make this remonstration, I'm afraid Grandmother Fei wouldn't have given in so easily."

Hongli also smiled.

He was telling the truth. As his biological mother, the Fourth Lady did not reprimand or suppress him at the critical moment, and she also stood up for her husband, Yongzheng. This was also one of the reasons why Concubine De could no longer be willful.

When Hongli said this, the Fourth Lady couldn't help but feel more satisfied with him.

So, after Hongli returned to Yongshou Palace, the Fourth Lady took the initiative to say to him, "Have breakfast with mother."

"Whoo!"

Hongli knew that in this era, legally speaking, the legitimate mother was the mother of all children in the family.

For this reason, Hongli called the fourth wife "Enie", but could only call Niuhuru "Gege".

If the stepmother asks a child in the family to do something for her, the child cannot refuse, otherwise it would be unfilial!
Over time, it has become a way for a legitimate mother to express her love and appreciation for a illegitimate child.

Therefore, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", when Mrs. Wang asked Jia Huan to copy scriptures, Jia Huan did not dare to refuse.

However, Jia Huan got into trouble while copying scriptures, so Wang Fu Ren never assigned him any work again and he was forgotten by her.

Being forgotten by Mrs. Wang naturally meant that Jia Huan had completely become a frozen cat and was not taken seriously by the head of the household, Wang Xifeng.

On the contrary, Jia Huan's elder sister Tanchun was entrusted with important tasks by Lady Wang because she knew how to please Lady Wang. Her status in the Jia family was completely different from that of her son Jia Huan.

Although "Dream of the Red Chamber" is just a novel, it also reflects in detail the internal ecology of large families of that era.

Now, the Fourth Lady asked Hongli to have breakfast with her. According to the logic of that era, it was a sign of her appreciation for him, which was equivalent to the emperor asking someone to have breakfast with him.

Hongli naturally agreed.

"What do you like to eat?"

The Fourth Lady has not yet been truly established as the Empress, so she cannot follow the rules and set up two tables to serve food like the Emperor. She can still only be ranked below the same concubine, with one table set up and the palace maids eating in turn.

But even so, the breakfast was rich enough, much richer than what he and Niu Hulu had in the past.

Hongli took a closer look and found that the palace servants listed six kinds of porridge, including rice porridge, coix seed porridge, Xiliang rice porridge, Lianggu rice porridge, millet, sorghum and bean porridge, and pine nut, water chestnut, coix seed and jujube porridge; there were also five kinds of noodles, such as leavened noodles, boiled noodles, clarified noodles, oil-coated noodles and sprinkled noodles.

There are also side dishes and various steamed foods and dim sum, about ten of each.

The Fourth Lady asked him to choose, but he was not sure what to choose.

In the end, Hongli chose a bowl of clear noodles with black bamboo shoots from Jiangnan, and started eating while sitting next to the Fourth Lady.

The taste of this rice noodle is similar to rice rolls, which makes Hongli feel quite warm in the stomach.

Seeing this, the Fourth Lady couldn't help but smile.

At that time, someone came from outside to report that Hongshi and Hongzhou came to pay their respects.

After hearing this, Hongli put down his chopsticks and prepared to stand up to greet him.

Since entering the Pass, the Banner people have been influenced by the customs of the interior and have become more and more particular about etiquette. It is a daily necessity for children to visit their grandparents and parents in the morning and evening.

One advantage of Hongli being personally taken care of by the Fourth Lady is that he no longer has to pay his respects to the Fourth Lady after paying his respects to Concubine De and Yongzheng, as Hongshi and Hongzhou did. Instead, he can pay his respects to the Fourth Lady in the palace immediately after waking up every morning.

At this moment, the Fourth Lady pressed her hand, asked Hongli to sit down, and said to the visitors, "Let them kneel down and pay their respects." "Yes!"

The Fourth Lady obviously didn't want anyone to disturb her and Hongli from having breakfast together.

After hearing this, Hongli didn't say much, just sat down and continued eating.

"Ernie, my son has finished his meal. I have to go find Uncle Sixteen and Uncle Twenty-first to enforce the palace order."

After finishing his meal, Hongli said goodbye to the Fourth Lady.

The Fourth Lady smiled lovingly and nodded, "Go ahead and do your job well."

"Ok!"

Hongli nodded and ran out.

Seeing this, the Fourth Lady couldn't help but shout, "Slow down! You just ate. Running too fast will hurt your spleen and stomach!"

"This kid!"

Seeing that Hongli had disappeared, the Fourth Lady could not help but sigh, and then instructed the eunuch Chen Shishun beside her:

"Give some of the Baohe pills, which are good for digestion, to Niu Hulu, and ask her to remember to serve them to Hongli at night. Also, give the Sa Fu Lan Xiang that I got earlier to Niu Hulu as a reward for her taking such good care of Hongli."

"Whoo!"

As Chen Shishun recalled, the Fourth Lady herself had always been reluctant to use this spice, but now she gave it to Niohuru. Naturally, he understood that this was because Hongli really made the Fourth Lady happy, so much so that Niohuru was also looked at differently by the Fourth Lady.

Hongli, Yinlu and Yinxi only held the power of temporary palace security for one day before he was dismissed from his post and no longer represented the emperor, but was in charge of the imperial guards.

Because on the day after Kangxi's death, that is, on the 14th day of the 15th month of the 16th year of Kangxi's reign, Yongzheng established the position of Prime Minister.

Prince Yinsi, the 13th Prince Yinxiang, Grand Secretary Ma Qi, and Shangshu Longkodo were in charge of the affairs.

The four royal ministers in charge of general affairs also appointed special officials to take charge of the palace security.

Yongzheng officially began to decide all important matters only with these four ministers, and kept his promise to make the eighth minister the chief prime minister.

Yongzheng, who had just become emperor, was so excited that he didn't care much about the past resentment between him and the eighth and ninth brothers, and even reduced a lot of hatred.

What he really wants to do now is to govern the Qing Dynasty together with Lao Ba.

Besides, he used to have a good relationship with Lao Ba.

You know, at the beginning, Yongzheng only had some opinions about the Eighth Concubine, but later because of the power struggle for the throne, the small rift between the two turned into a big conflict.

But now the dust has settled, and the Eighth Prince has taken the initiative to compromise, so Yongzheng is still very willing to show the breadth of mind and magnanimity of an emperor to the Eighth Prince.

After receiving the two apology memorials from Xiao Yongzao of Hongchun, Yongzheng took the initiative to say to Lao Ba with a smile:
"Eighth brother, look, Hongchun and Xiao Gelao are quite sensible. After Old Sixteen, Old Twenty-one, and Hongli gave them a heads-up, they were willing to take the initiative to apologize!"

"It's not easy for me to argue with them. After all, one is my nephew and the other is a senior official of the dynasty!"

Then, Yongzheng stood up with a beaming face, stroked his chin and said, "It's good that they can admit their mistakes in time!"

"As long as they continue to serve the king loyally, I will give them a chance to reform!"

It is said that after being reminded by Hongli, Hongchun and Xiao Yongzao went back and submitted a letter of apology to Yongzheng overnight.

Because after being confronted by Hongli, they also realized that Hongli's words, on the surface, were saying that they didn't understand the rules, but in fact they were threatening them.

If they did not take the initiative to admit their mistakes to Yongzheng, then Hongli would take the initiative to report them.

Therefore, Yongzheng received the two men's apology letters the next day.

Eighth Brother also stood up at this time. "Fourth Brother is absolutely right. According to what they said in this letter of apology, it was Hongli's persuasion with the righteousness of the monarch and his subjects that made them wake up. How rare! It seems that Hongli, although young, can distinguish right from wrong when it comes to major issues!"

Just like he asked Yinxiang to continue calling him "fourth brother", Yongzheng also asked the eighth brother to continue calling him "fourth brother" after he became emperor, intending to show that he would not neglect brotherhood just because he became emperor.

Therefore, the eighth brother continued to address Yongzheng as the fourth brother.

"Eighth brother is right, it's all Hongli's credit!"

"What's even more remarkable is that he didn't choose to come to me to complain about Hongchun and Elder Xiao, but instead persuaded them to plead guilty. This shows that he knows that resolving rifts is more important than exacerbating internal strife!"

(End of this chapter)